sBecome A Court Reporter

If you love the law, but don’t necessarily have the patience to go to law school, you might consider a career as a court reporter. This is a position of great responsibility, since it involves documenting the words spoken during legal proceedings and preparing transcripts of those statements.

In addition to being present at hearings and trials, court reporters are responsible for recording depositions, interrogatories, and various other legal proceedings. Court reporters can also provide a real service to the disability community by providing close captioning to the hearing-impaired. In short, the legal system would not be able to function efficiently if it weren’t for conscientious court reporters.

Interestingly enough, less than 30 percent of court reporters in the U.S. work in courtrooms. The remainder are hired by lawyers to record the depositions of witnesses before trials. Therefore, there is more variety to the job than you might have thought.

Training for court reporting involves completing an associate’s or bachelor’s degree program which can run for two to four years. In the course of this training, you’ll learn legal terms, criminal procedures, and transcription techniques. Most employers also require certification to ensure that their court reporters are highly proficient. In some states, court reporters must also be authorized notary publics. A court reporter can also earn the title “registered professional reporter” by passing a rigorous exam and undergoing continuing education programs offered by the National Court Reporters Association.

To be an effective court reporter you have to be detail-oriented and possess excellent concentration skills. You must also demonstrate a high degree of accuracy in your work. Given the huge volume of legal proceedings that exist today, court reporters are also in high demand, which means they can earn more than $100,000 annually—once they factor in lucrative freelance assignments.

L. Charles Fernandez is the creator of the Six Figure Jobs Blog, a guide to finding six figure jobs in unlikely fields.